Improvement in machines for polishing wood



S. G. RANDALL.

Machine for Polishi ng Wood Patented Jan. 26, 1875.

OOOOOOOOOOO UNITED STATES PATENT OEErcE SILAS G. RANDALL, OF PROVIDENCE,RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO AMELIA A. RANDALL, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR POLISHING WOOD.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 159,216, dated January26, 1875; application filed July 6, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SILAs G. RANDALL, of Providence, in the county ofProvidence and State of Rhode Island, have invented an Improvement inMachines for Polishing Wood, of which the following is a specification:

This invention relates to a novel method of smoothing or polishingmoldings and other articles or surfaces by means of a polisher, which isreciprocated or moved over the art-icle or surface to be polished, orthe latter similarly moved in relation with the polisher,

and which combines a flexible lining or facing and any liquid, fluid, orgranular substance the particles of which are mobile, so that, on weightor pressure being applied to said sub. stance, the flexible lining orfacing is caused, either directly or through the intervention of apolishing-cloth, to act upon and to conform to all irregularities in thesurface of the mold ing or article being polished, and so to effect thedesired end in the most perfect and regular manner over the entiremolding or surface, and so that, by varying the weight or pressure of or011 the mobile substance, the action of the polisher may have its forceincreased or diminished to suit different stages of the work. Labor alsomay be economized by substituting machine for hand labor to actuate thepolisher or article under operation of it.

The accompanying drawing simply serves to show the invention as applied,in a rude form, to a single molding, without regard to the means usedfor operating the polisher, for clamping the polishing-cloth, or forsupplying or controlling the substance used to act upon the flexiblelining, and which it is preferred should be either air or water, andwill here be described as air, although any fluid or liquid substanceunder pressure will answer; and the invention may be applied to numerousarticles, whether of wood or other material, at one and the sametime-as, for instance, to a series of moldings arranged parallel withone another.

Figure 1 is an end view of a polisher constructed in accordance with myinvention as applied to a molding. Fig. 2 is an under view of the same,showing the flexible lining with the polishing-cloth thrown back. Fig. 3is a transverse vertical section on the line a: a Fig. 4 5 and Fig. 4, alongitudinal vertical section on the line 3 y, Fig. 1.

A is the molding to be polished, suitably held down on or secured to abed, B, which may be grooved or rabbeted on its edges, as shown, toprovide for the reciprocating action. and guidance along it of thepolishing block, form, or base 0, the interior of which conforms, orapproximately so, to the shape of the molding. Said 'block, form, orbase is lined with a flexible diaphragm, D, fastened down on its edgesZ1 to the under side of the block. E is the polishing cloth or material,arranged below or externally to the lining D, and suitably secured onits edges d to the ends of the block. G is a flexible pipe or hosecommunicating with the interior of the block (J between said interiorand the flexible lining D, within which space air (supposing such to bethe acting medium) is forced, said air swelling out the lining D, andcausing it and the polishingcloth E to conform to all portions of, andirregularities in, the molding, and with an equal pressure and the mostperfect regularity at all points, as the block 0 or bed carrying themolding A is reciprocated to and fro, and with any desired force,according to the pressure thrown upon the lining.

I claim- The polishing block, form, or base, in combination with itsattached lining, and air, under pressure, or its equivalent, applied tosaid lining, essentially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

SILAS G. RANDALL.

Witnesses:

WALTER R. BAKER, WALTER W. SrowE.

